Michael Burfield

Dashboard Jesus and the Dollfaces 3.
plaster and timber
Cost: A$1250

I have always been interested in the relationship between sculpture and architecture and, in particular, the narrative possibilities offered by the sculptural convention of bas-relief. My interest in the form was first aroused following a visit to the temple of Bayon at Angkor Wat, where I saw the stunning bas reliefs that run around the temple base.
My current sculptural practice is an exploration of dream narratives in the form of cast sculptural reliefs. By using a repertoire of found objects arranged and juxtaposed in a tableau, then cast in plaster, my intention was to create another world – a landscape of the unconscious. The selection of objects, many of which come loaded with an inherent symbolic meaning – an apple, a snake, a doll – becomes key in this process.
The work seeks complicity between the viewer and the artist. In order to decipher the work, to establish the narrative, to interpret the dream, the viewer’s own cultural perspective and prejudice becomes tantamount.
Dashboard Jesus and the Dollfaces is one chapter of a much larger work, comprising 23 cast pieces of different shapes and sizes, which fit together to form one complete relief, as shown below.



Michael Burfield

The Gift of the Gorgon, 2005, plaster and timber, 296x102x60cms


Michael Dudley Burfield

Education
National Art School Sydney

2005 Batchelor of Fine Arts (Sculpture) National Art School Sydney
1992 Diploma in Arts (Interior Design) Sydney Institute of Technology
1984 Diplome D'Etudes de Civilisation Francaise, economics option, Sorbonne, University of Paris
1984 Diplome Superieur de Francais des Affairs Paris Chamber of Commerce & Industry

Group exhibitions
2008 Australie: Mythe et Realité, Maison des Sciences de l'Homme, Paris , France
2007 An Artist at my Table, Cell Block, National Art School
        Art in the Open, Headland Park , Mosman
        Harbour, Landship Gallery, Mosman
        Imagined Australia, Palazzo Vaj, Prato, Italy
        Watermark, Mary Place Gallery, Paddington
2006 “Surface Tension”, May Street Galleries
2006 “Art & Artefact”, See Street Gallery
2006 Waverley Art Prize
2006 “Originals” Group Show, Wallspace Gallery
2006 Movie Moments (Highly commended) Art Moment Gallery
2006 MCQ International Art Prize (Finalist)
2005 Graduate Exhibition, National Art School
2005 Images of the Cross, Tap Gallery
2004 John Olsen Drawing Prize Exhibition (Finalist) National Art School
2004 Best of Drawing Week Exhibition, National Art School
2004 Waverley Art Prize

collections
Work held in private collections in Australia, New Zealand, UK and France.

Michael Dudley Burfield
Address 11/5 Onslow Avenue Elizabeth Bay NSW 2011 Australia Telephone 61 2 9380 7938
Mobile 0414 963 369
Email
michaelburfield@aapt.net.au

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